Chapter 15: After The End
by Cheryblosom-chan
Summary: Dunclet, Kladora, Figley, and small mentions of other ships. A completely new story that takes place after The End! The Baudelaires and the Quagmires have reunited at last, and are starting a new life at the vastly improved Prufrock. But maybe it's not the paradise that it seems when strange events start happening and a figure from their past steps back into their lives...
1. A New Beginning

**Yes, I'm writing a new book. It's entirely separate from my other books and is obviously not in my universe because of it. This is an after The End story. Let's hope it goes well. Begin!**

**~Normal POV**

"It feels like we've been sitting in this boat for months."

"It's only been 2 weeks."

In that small boat were the Baudelaires, Violet, Klaus, Sunny, and their adoptive family member Beatrice Jr. Violet was considered to be Bea's adoptive mother, while her siblings were her adoptive uncle and aunt. For 2 weeks their boat drifted across the ocean towards dry land from their old home, an unnamed island which became Kit Snicket's final resting place. This was their only chance to get back to society and start normal lives again. Their hearts full of hope that they would also find their Quagmire triplet companions again as well. Kit had told them a year prior that Quigley, the lost Quagmire, had been sent to reunite with his siblings, but she wasn't aware of what happened to the three of them after that.

Violet was currently feeding Bea some soft food from their dwindling storage of supplies; all the while her mind was filled with longing. She missed Duncan Quagmire. Her charming, brave, and noble, journalist occupied her thoughts most every day since they were separated so long ago by a self-sustaining hot air mobile home. She missed Isadora too, she's her best friend, but Duncan was her true love. Her brain unwillingly drifted to thinking of him more often.

Klaus was driving the ship and thinking of his own issues. He missed Isadora Quagmire, but there was more to it than just him being over the moon for her. He needed to see her again. Klaus Baudelaire learned the feeling of heart break some time ago, and it made him appreciate and love Isadora all the more. It gave him a renewed energy to want to see her again; one that was still there even a year later.

But in the back of his mind, was a quiet thought that he never shared with his sisters; it was the knowledge that if he did ever see the one who broke his heart again he would forgive her. He had no feelings for her, but he would forgive her anyway. He would be with Isadora, for good this time, and that made it worth the effort to forgive. Violet and Sunny knew the feeling of being hurt by that girl in some way too, but they were... considerably less open to the idea of forgiving her. Or at the very least, it felt like they were. It was a subject that simply wasn't discussed; they never had the time with all the things that happened in their lives so quickly. After it happened, they had to rush to Hotel Denouement and the rest is history. Klaus appeared to be the only one who even still thought about it.

Sunny was sitting at the front of the boat looking around through their spyglass. Violet set Beatrice down in her basket and started a conversation with Klaus about their situation.

Sure enough after some time, Sunny interrupted them by shouting that she had spotted their destination: Briny Beach. Once upon a time, this place was a particularly bad memory for the Baudelaires, but now it was something they could look at with joy again. But that was not the only thing that Sunny had found. She had noticed something landing on the beach that looked like a blimp held up by several dozen large balloons, and just getting off of it were exactly the people who occupied the minds of the elder Baudelaires'.

"Duncan!"

"Violet!"

She climbed out of the boat and gave her journalist a very tight hug and blinked back a few tears of joy at being in his arms. Klaus helped Sunny get Bea's basket out of the boat, and once he did, he was practically tackled with a hug from Isadora. However, unlike his sister, Klaus did shed a few happy tears from holding his beloved poet in his arms. The hot air mobile home retreated into the sky as this reunion happened; Hector had accomplished his task and could go back to living the way he wanted to. Sunny was giving Quigley a hug and she noticed how happy he was to see Duncan and Violet together. Almost as if it was something that didn't bother him one bit.

"I'm so happy to see you guys again!" Duncan said wiping his watery eyes.

"We have a surprise too," Violet replied. They all figured on talking about their happy reunion more once they have someplace to stay first.

She reached into their basket and picked up Beatrice to introduce her. Each Quagmire triplet got a chance to hold her. When it was Quigley's turn he got a little annoyed at first that Bea pulled some of his shaggy hair and played with it, but he didn't stop her. Duncan and Isadora snickered at this because they were well aware that their brother was... protective of his unruly hair so it was an unseen occurrence to have him let someone touch it. Perhaps the fact that Bea was so young was a factor. Quigley might not have seemed like it, but he did like kids.

"What was the plan from here," Isadora asked handing Bea over to Violet, "We don't exactly have anywhere to go."

"We were going to figure it out once we got here," Klaus replied.

"You won't have to, children."

The seven of them looked over at the road to see a smiling man they did not recognize approach them. Before introducing himself, he held up a spyglass to show he was friendly. Behind him they could see a parked taxi.

"I'm Pecuchet Bellerophon, but you can call me Pip. I'm a taxi driver that's been sent by the Duchess of Winnipeg to give you a ride."

"I'm afraid we're still not too knowledgeable about V.F.D., what's the Duchess of Winnipeg," Klaus asked.

"The position is something of a high authority figure in the organization. The current one took the role over just last year and has been working round the clock trying to find you Baudelaires and Quagmires. You do know her though, Miss Jacqueline Scieszka."

"Jacqueline," Violet said in astonishment.

"That name was mentioned in The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations, it said she was next in line for the position," Duncan commented.

Pip nodded. "She's a very resourceful woman. And she's given me a mission to take you to her current location so she can set up proper living arrangements for you. And you don't need to worry about a fee; I only accept tips in the form of book suggestions, at least from other volunteers."

With that, Pip helped the children get whatever they intended to keep from what little they had into the trunk of his taxi and they all carefully climbed inside. The Baudelaires only had their supplies in the boat and only some of it was necessary while the Quagmires had been given backpacks of extra clothes from Hector as gifts. (Quigley still had his bag from his stay with Jacques Snicket) Bea's basket was put on the Quagmires' laps in the back seat, since there was very little room for eight people in the car. Pip assured them that it wouldn't be too long of a drive, and was happy to answer any questions he could along the way.

"Do you know anything about the Hotel Denouement fire," Violet asked as Pip started down the road.

"I know enough, it was supposed to be the last safe place. We've got other places that serve us for now until we finish rebuilding things. But I assume you were wondering something specific about it?"

Violet remembered all the people who had been in that building when the fire started. "Did anyone make it out?"

"Yes a few people did, Frank Denouement for one."

Klaus looked skeptical. "You're sure it's Frank, not Ernest?"

Pip smiled, amused at the obvious assumption. "It's Frank; he's working directly for Jacqueline until we get the time to rebuild the hotel."

"Frank, Bea's father Dewey, and their brother Ernest were identical triplets," Violet explained to the confused Quagmires, "Ernest was a fire-starter unfortunately."

"I remember the name Denouement from the book," Isadora said, "It's how we found out they were our distant cousins on our mother's side."

"So Bea's got one blood uncle," Quigley commented with a small smile.

"That's Dewey and Kit's daughter? She's got two blood uncles actually," Pip replied, "Her other one is on Kit's side, her brother Lemony Snicket. An old friend of mine he is, I haven't seen him in ages. I'm sure Jacqueline can track him down for you."

"We would appreciate that," Violet said, "Bea deserves to know her real family too. Did anyone else survive the fire?"

"Judy Strauss, Jerome Squalor, and... that's all I know for sure, sorry we don't know how many made it out or not. I know Jerome is back to living at his apartment with his new husband, Charles. I think he gave up on being a volunteer and co-runs a lumber mill now. And Judy retired from her position on the high court to take over as the new principal of Prufrock Preparatory School. I've heard it's a much nicer place to live now."

The Baudelaires explained who Judy Strauss was, and what she meant to them since they were relieved that she had survived. Pip then told them about the _Daily Punctilio_ getting taken over by another old friend of his named Moxie Mallahan. The newspaper was much more honest and well written now, which made Duncan eager to see it for once. He even mentioned that its first new publication was about them being innocent of the murder of Jacques Snicket, disguised as Count Olaf. But Pip didn't have details on how the paper got the information that they were innocent.

It appeared that in the year they were gone, things had gotten much better in the world. But once he was finished talking about it, he noted that they had arrived at their destination, a small office building that was a front for V.F.D. The children got out of the car, and before leaving Klaus gave Pip a tip that _Bridge to Terabithia_ is a fantastic book as his requested payment. Duncan helped Violet carry Bea's basket and the others grabbed their bags and they went inside to meet with the new Duchess of Winnipeg.

**~End of Chapter**

**I know this chapter is mostly setting up the story, and there's no real ship interaction yet, but you know there will be later! Either way I hope you like it, and I will see you in the next chapter!**


	2. Settling In

**Begin!**

**~Normal POV**

Almost immediately upon entering the building, the children were greeted by Jacqueline rushing out to meet them. She didn't look much different from the past year, aside from a few signs of overworking from her new position. She started their conversation by telling them that she would set them up to go live at the improved Prufrock to help ease them back into normal society and anything they needed during their stay would be taken care of with her resources; something that they were quite thankful to hear. She also had someone with her, a man that the Baudelaires recognized. They had met him at Hotel Denouement last year, but the only difference in his appearance was a wedding ring on his left hand.

"Children, this is Lemony Snicket, he's Kit's brother, he's happy to be your semi-official guardian until you come of age. And while you're living at Prufrock, Sunny and little Bea will stay with him since they're so young."

"We've met before," Violet said shaking Lemony's hand.

Lemony's gaze softened at her and he smiled, "That we have. I wish you could have taken my offer the last time we met, but that's not the story goes. If you don't mind, may I?" He gestured to his niece, and Violet picked Bea up and handed her over to him.

"She looks so much like Kit, but she has Dewey's eyes," Lemony said fondly, before turning his attention back to them, "While Jacqueline gets you set up with a few phone calls to Prufrock's new principal, you'll stay with me tonight and everything should be ready for you tomorrow. Besides, you'll want to drop the young ones off before you go since it might be improved but it is still a boarding school and it's simply too far for you to take a ride there every day, staying in a dorm will be an unfortunate requirement."

"That's fine; as long as it's a place to stay," Isadora replied.

"Well, it might be a better school but you can't expect the students to be improved," Jacqueline commented.

"At least we don't have to deal with Carmelita anymore," Klaus said.

Duncan and Isadora were confused by this statement, but Klaus said they would explain later. Jacqueline then went into the other room to start her task. Lemony set his niece down in her basket, said they could head out to his home now, and led them out of the office building.

One car ride later they found themselves at Lemony's rather large house. Once inside they were greeted by another new face. A pretty woman with blonde hair, and grey eyes that looked like they might have been black at one point; she had a nice smile and a wedding ring on her left hand.

"Moxie Mallahan, I'm Lemony's wife. It's good to finally meet you all," She said, "And yes I know who you are. My husband is the one who begged me to help clear your names Baudelaires. He found the evidence; all I needed to do was take over the _Daily Punctilio_."

"You cleared our names?" Violet asked giving Lemony a quizzical look.

"Beatrice wouldn't have forgiven me if I didn't, and I wouldn't have forgiven myself either," He replied quietly.

The Baudelaires were still unaware of the exact history of Lemony and their late mother, but they could tell she had been someone important to him. Perhaps that was why he was so happy to have a niece named after her. Moxie gave her husband a kiss before heading out for her work day. Lemony then gave them a quick tour of his home and told them he would take good care of Sunny and Beatrice for them while they were away.

For the rest of the evening, the children settled into their temporary home. Lemony was in his office most of the day, to leave them to catch up and have some down time together. He mentioned that any clothes or other things they needed would be at the school when they arrived. With Judy in charge, V.F.D. had a permanent involvement at Prufrock now; she retired from being a justice but not from being a volunteer.

After dinner with the Snickets that night, which was happily prepared for them by Sunny, they stayed up a bit into the night, sharing stories about their adventures, helping each other grieve for their losses, and simply enjoying being together again. It was a good night with laughter, games, some tears, some teasing each other for their soon relationships and overall excitement for this new chapter in their lives.

**~Violet's POV**

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and happy. My family was whole, and I had my love Duncan back in my life. Everything was just... better. I looked across my temporary room and saw Isadora wasn't awake yet. I quietly slipped out of bed and went to take a shower. Once I was dressed I went downstairs into the kitchen to find something to eat. I'm not too skilled of a chef like my sister, but I can make some basic things, so I cooked myself some fried eggs.

"Morning Violet."

I looked up and saw Quigley had come to join me. His already shaggy hair was even more mussed from sleeping.

"Good morning Quigley, I hope you didn't come here to take my food."

He smiled, "Nah, I was going to have cereal."

He proceeded to pour himself a bowl of cereal. I set my plate down across from him and we started eating in comfortable silence; since we were waiting for the others to get up.

"So..."

"So?"

"Quigley, you're not still mad about me rejecting you on Mount Fraught; are you?"

He blinked. "Oh, that? No of course not! I mean I was a little sore but I completely get it. Rejection is rejection and I understand that; and it's been a year I'm way over it. Besides I see how happy Duncan is, and how happy he makes you, and I love my brother too much to mess with that. Believe me, if I had seen you two together before we climbed that waterfall, I would never have said anything."

I smiled. "Thank you Quigley, that's very noble of you. Maybe you are a softie at heart."

He gave me a grumpy look. "And if you're going to tease me then maybe you shouldn't have been so blasé about me catching you and Duncan sucking face in the hall yesterday."

"What I do with my boyfriend is my business."

"Just make sure I don't hear it. Ever."

I opted to ignore the implications of that comment.

**~Meanwhile... Klaus' POV**

Ok... you get one chance to do this. She deserves to know. I had just gotten ready for the day and I was standing outside Violet and Isadora's room. I could hear Violet had already left, which meant that I had my first opportunity to be alone with Isadora. (I hadn't gotten the chance yesterday which was fine.) But I needed to talk to her. I gently knocked on the door and it swung open to reveal Isadora smiling up at me and drying her hair with a towel.

"Good morning Klaus," She chirped.

I love seeing her smile. I love her. "Good morning Izzie... can I talk to you for a minute... alone?"

My tone was a bit serious but she was still smiling at the idea. She stepped aside to let me in and pushed the door until it was just barely open instead of closing it all the way; likely to keep her brothers from thinking we were doing something bad if the door was completely closed. She sat down on her bed and motioned for me to join her. Being a gentleman, I kept a respectable distance between us.

"So what is it?"

I took a deep breath. "I need to tell you something that happened while we were separated. You're not going to like hearing it but I need you to know before anything else happens."

Her brown eyes widened with slightly fearful curiosity; I had her full attention. She nodded and put her hand on mine to encourage me to continue. So I told her everything that happened during my stay on a submarine called the Queequeg.

"Violet and Sunny don't care much to talk about it, but I do. It's important to recognize the past even if you're ashamed of it. I am sorry, and I swear to you, Isadora, I have _no _romantic feelings for her. You're the only woman who will truly hold my heart. And there's a solid chance I'll never even see her again anyway... Do you believe me?"

She had remained quiet throughout the whole story, patiently taking in every detail and processing this information. Another girl had kissed me, unwillingly, and while Isadora and I weren't officially together when it happened I still felt like I had betrayed my lovely poet in some way. After all, Isadora kissed me first... that had to mean something.

"Klaus, I know you're a loyal person. You're incredibly loyal to my family and your own. I trust you, I forgive you, and..." She laced our fingers together. "I want to be with you."

I smiled and felt my face get hot behind my glasses. "You have no idea how happy that makes me Izzie..."

She responded by giving me a soft kiss before getting up and leading me out of the room with our hands still connected. Obviously, she wanted everyone to know that we had sorted everything out.

**~Normal POV**

Lemony had dropped the two elder Baudelaires and the Quagmire triplets off at Prufrock shortly after breakfast and saying good-bye to Sunny and Beatrice; promising they would call to check on them every now and then.

Immediately, the five of them noticed a lot of the changes that had been made. Uniforms were no longer required since nobody was wearing one. The school lawn was much greener and well watered despite being out in the Hinterlands. The athletic field had gotten a redesign and had nicer bleachers and a new scoreboard. The school buildings themselves were the same strange shape, but there wasn't anything to be done about that anyway; nonetheless they looked cleaner and more inviting somehow. The main building itself had been given a cleaner and more brightly colored look on the inside; many cracks in the walls and floors had been fixed as well. The five of them made their way to the administrative office by memory.

Once there, Klaus pointed out that the school also had a new motto. One that was much better than the previous.

"_Carpe Diem_," He read aloud.

"Seize the day!"

The five turned around to see Judy Strauss smiling widely at them. She quickly enveloped Violet and Klaus into a huge hug and ushered them all in her new office.

"Isn't that a much better motto than that ghastly old one," She said excitedly.

"It's a lot better," Duncan replied after he and his siblings introduced themselves, "We've been told that you guys know each other."

"Oh yes we do, and I'm so glad to see you two again! I was so worried about you when you left the hotel. But now you're here and ready to start over in a new life. I've completely turned this old place around. I couldn't help young people enough as a justice so I retired and came here. And Jacqueline told me everything about our arrangement."

She handed each of them a key to a specific dorm room. "I was told you might be more comfortable living together so I found you a dorm just big enough." She then went on to say the different rule changes, which were all made to be fair instead of punishing, and gave them proper class schedules.

For the next 6 months everything went well for the orphans. Jacqueline had been right in that some students were very set in their ways so it wasn't a complete paradise but it was much better than before. All their needs and supplies were taken care of when necessary. Jacqueline even opened her bank account to them so they would have some money of their own until they were adults. (Being so busy with her V.F.D. duties, she rationalized that she didn't have any problems with letting them have money she wasn't using anyway.) The new teachers at the school were all more qualified and better at their jobs, even if not all of them were perfect either.

Violet and Duncan would go on regular dates and sometimes the unfortunate one of their siblings would catch them making out somewhere. While Klaus and Isadora were more discreet about such things in their relationship; likely to keep Duncan and Quigley from thinking they were going too far even though they weren't. Quigley settled back into his habits of dating around. It wasn't an issue for the others to see him do this, despite how he should probably not. By the time 6 months had passed, Quigley had already dated several different students; making him both famous and infamous around the school, something he claimed he was used to since that's how it was before they lost their home. Some students even recognized Duncan and Isadora from before they were kidnapped last year, and were shocked to see that they did indeed have a brother after all.

**~End of Chapter**

**Yay chapter 2! See you in the next one where hopefully things will get interesting!**


	3. Changes

**Begin!**

**~Duncan's POV**

Prufrock really has improved; I'd almost even call it a good home now. But the thing that makes it so great is that I'm with my family all the time. And I have Violet! She's so perfect I can't even describe her in words. And I'm a journalist so that's quite an accomplishment. Klaus and Isadora were happy together too; in the past months Quigley and I had gotten used to seeing our sister have a boyfriend. We even stopped objecting to them kissing when one of us is around. Klaus is a great guy, he makes our sister happy, and there's no other guy in the world we'd trust with her.

Today started like any normal day for us. Klaus and Isadora had a lot of the same classes together, (his grades let him keep up even though we're older and would logically graduate first) and I had half my classes with Quigley and the second half of the day with Violet. Quigley might be kind of dumb sometimes, but he's not terrible at school work. Right now he and I were walking to our first class together after breakfast.

We were having an argument about which of us looks better in the morning. (Me) But he was convinced it was him. (Wrong)

After we finally settled on never agreeing, I changed the subject. I've been put in charge of the school newspaper, and am very eager to have that opportunity, and my observational skills have led me to notice there were 3 students missing from classes in the last week without explanation. Principal Strauss, who insists that my family and I call Judy, might have some information on that. It might be a story I could use.

Quigley stepped over to walk in front of me, "I don't know Duncan. It's probably a coincidence. You're sure nobody said they might have been sick? Something could be going around."

"I guess you could be right; it's just a little weird that nobody said anything."

"Not everything is a mystery big brother-" "Ow!"

And just as predicted, because Quigley was walking backwards he bumped into someone. I heard the thud of a book hitting the floor. I took a step to the side so I could see what happened.

He instantly turned around. "Oh shit I am so sorry!"

"Would you believe that you're the second person to bump into me today, but you're only the one who apologized?" The girl said laughing lightly. Thankfully, she seemed to take it well; probably because she didn't fall.

Quigley reached down and picked up her book and handed it to her. "I hope I didn't ruin your book."

She smiled. "It's alright."

I couldn't help holding back a snicker. Quigley was practically drooling. I will give him this, she was pretty; just because I'm taken doesn't mean I can't recognize it when I see it. She had tan skin, shoulder length raven hair, and light blue eyes covered by triangle-shaped glasses. She didn't look familiar; she was probably new.

"Yeah sorry about my brother," I said with a smirk, "He can be kind of dumb sometimes like walking backwards down a busy hall."

Quigley smacked my arm.

"Actually, it was partly my fault for reading while walking. I'm not used to being able to run into people when I do that." She moved her book to one arm and introduced herself. "I'm Fiona Widdershins."

"Quigley Quagmire; charmed."

I all but rolled my eyes. Watching my brother flirt is... weird to say the least. It didn't help that like most girls Quigley tries to charm she was also checking him out. But that surname got my attention. For some reason it sounded familiar. Where have I heard the name before? While I was slightly distracted, Quigley had told her who I was.

"Well it was nice meeting you two." She said stepping past us. "But I have to get to class so I'll see you around."

I grabbed Quigley's arm and pulled him away, "Come on, Romeo, you can see her again some other time."

My journalist instincts took over; where on earth have I heard the name Widdershins before?

Another missing student in class... maybe it is some kind of bug going around. The only reason I was interested in such things is because of my newspaper work. If something is going wrong then I should be able to report on it. Quigley was visibly too distracted by a certain someone to worry about my concerns. I'll ask Judy once I get a free period. She might know something.

"You're sure it's nothing," I said.

"Absolutely, Duncan, there's no need to get in a fuss about it. All those kids had parent slips to get them out of class," Judy replied showing me a small stack of papers, "Though I appreciate the dedication to your work."

Hm... "Well, thank you for your time, anyway." I turned and left the office.

"Hey Duncan!"

I smiled and looked over to see Violet come up to me. She gave me a hug, since kissing in front of the principal's office would probably get us in trouble, and started walking with me.

"What were you doing in the office?"

"I was curious about things. Have you had any students missing from your classes that you don't have with me?"

She thought for a moment, "Now that you mention it yeah there's been 2 empty seats for the past couple days. I keep hearing that they were taken out of class by their parents or something."

"See that's the thing, in my first class I've noticed 4 people missing so far for the past week. Quigley says it's probably a bug going around, Judy says all the kids had parent slips so they're excused from class, but my instincts tell me it's probably something bigger... what do you think?"

"I think you're trying to get yourself in trouble. Remember what happened last time you tried to solve a mystery." Violet gave me a concerned look.

I smiled. "I know but I'm a journalist, love. I can't resist a good story!"

"That's what makes me worried... Duncan, Olaf is dead; we told you we saw him die with our own eyes. I'm sure it's nothing to get invested in. Now I have to get to the library to use the rest of my free period to study." She gave me a quick kiss, after ensuring no one was around, and happily walked away.

Despite what my girlfriend says, and I should listen to her... I want to get to the bottom of this.

**~Violet's POV**

Oh Duncan... he's a sweetheart, but he should really let this go. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Everything has been perfectly lovely here for months. If he starts snooping into things he shouldn't he could get in trouble. I opened the library doors and walked instantly over to the history section for my studying. As I searched through the shelves for books to check out, I heard the sound of Quigley's voice from the other side of the room... but that's not the only thing I heard.

"So you're a mycologist? That's the study of fungi right?"

"That's right, you did say you knew more than you looked," A female voice replied.

I recognize that voice.

I very carefully peeked around the shelf to see Quigley talking to Fiona Widdershins. Spend enough time with Quigley and you'll instantly recognize when he's flirting with a girl. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a problem. It's a common occurrence, but the problem here is the girl he's flirting with. How the hell? Why the hell?! I thought she was back to living on the submarine! Why is she here? And what's Klaus going to say if he sees her?

I might as well ask him…

I pulled out my phone and very discreetly took a picture of the two of them as they talked. They were too distracted by each other to notice. I have the unfortunate pleasure of knowing what it looks like when Fiona flirts too…

_"Klaus, we have a problem."_

After a minute or so I got a reply.

_"Violet, it's Isadora; Klaus is busy with homework, what's up?"_

_"Hand him the phone now."_

_"Ok."_

_"Alright Vi, what do you need?"_

I sent him the picture.

**~End of Chapter**

**Nothing else to add here, see you in the next one!**


	4. Something's Going On

**Begin!**

**~Quigley's POV**

I've been spending more time with Fiona today. She seems really nice and god damn she's so beautiful. Right now it was dinner time and we were eating outside together; not having to eat in the cafeteria is one of the many things I've been told was changed about the school, my family prefers to eat in the dorm.

"So what was up with your brother when I met him? He seemed distracted."

"Oh, Duncan? He's got this crazy idea that there's some mystery going on around here that he wants to solve. I think he's finally lost his mind. His girlfriend should really put a leash on him."

"...A mystery?"

"Yeah a couple kids weren't in classes the past week and he thinks there's something off about it."

Fiona gave me a curious look. "That is strange; what do you know about it?"

I shrugged as I ate my pizza. "Nothing more than anyone else; the teachers aren't saying anything at all, and I think it's just a plague or something. Anyway, when did you start here? I've never seen you around before today."

"I just started yesterday, but it looks like we don't have any classes together."

I nodded and we continued to get to know each other. She's pretty smart, she must be if she's a scientist I suppose, and I told her about my interest in cartography. This apparently sparked her interest.

"You're into cartography?"

"Yep, here I'll show you." I pulled out my commonplace book and showed her some of my maps. "Ignore the color I've been meaning to get a new one for a while but I keep forgetting."

She smiled at me. She has a pretty smile. "Those are very well done. They look so professional. Quigley, could you do me a favor?"

"That depends on what it is," I replied putting my notebook down.

"Could you draw me a map of the school? I'm still learning my way around and it would be very helpful to have one since you know the place already."

"I'd be happy to, but it might take a while." I smirked as I led into what I wanted to say. "But I have a question for you too, how would you like to go on a date with me Saturday night and I'd give you that map when I pick you up from your dorm?"

She blushed. "Well, I'd love to _but_..."

_"Please don't say have a boyfriend."_

"I'm actually going to be busy this weekend. So, if you're serious about taking me out; let's make it Monday night and I promise I'll be free then."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Ok Monday it is! That'll give me plenty of time to make you that map."

She pulled out a teal notebook and gave me a scrap of paper with some writing on it. "I don't live in a dorm by the way. I live in an apartment with my brother; so that's my address and my number."

I gave her my number in exchange and we said our good-byes after finishing our food. I've still got some time left in the day so I'll start on that map for her.

**~Meanwhile... Klaus' POV**

"I really don't think it's that big a deal!"

"Not a big deal? Not a big deal! Klaus: she betrayed us to work with Olaf! And you're telling me that your ex showing up at this school and flirting with your future brother-in-law is _not_ a big deal?"

"I wouldn't exactly call her his ex, per say," Isadora chimed in from her spot on our couch.

"Izzie, I'll handle this," I said. "Violet, it is fine. So what if Quigley wants to date her? It's not my problem. And also, she didn't go to work with Olaf, she left to stay with her brother. And Olaf is dead! Why does it fucking matter?"

My sister was being unreasonable. I forgave Fiona a long time ago. She can see whoever she damn well pleases; and if she wants to be with Quigley, and Quigley wants to be with her then I'll support my brother-in-law. Why the fuck should I stop his happiness just because I didn't work out with Fiona? That'd make me a selfish bastard.

"What about the students who are missing? What if Duncan is right and there is something going on? What if Fiona showing up out of nowhere isn't a coincidence? She and Fernald could still be working with villains."

I rolled my eyes. "Vi, have some faith ok? I'm not asking you to trust Fiona, even though I think you should since it's been a very long time since we were around her anyway, but I am asking you to trust me and Quigley. Izzie, back me up on this, if Fiona and Quigley start dating would you care?"

"Hell no, my brother deserves to at least try a relationship with her. Knowing Quigley, there is a chance they'll break up anyway. Besides you and I are together and I trust you to be faithful."

"There, Violet, you're outvoted. Just don't worry about it and don't bother Fiona either. And as for the students, ask Duncan he's the one investigating without your permission. I doubt that Fiona is connected to those if she only got here recently."

Violet looked at me and Isadora and gave a very defeated sigh. "Ok... I trust you guys. But if she's just using Quigley to get to you Klaus, or if she tries to try to hurt you Izzie, I promise this time I'll do a _lot_ worse than just call her a bitch."

With that, Violet muttered something about finding Duncan so he can help her calm down, and left the dorm. I took off my glasses momentarily to rub my temple in frustration. My sister could be hard to deal with at times. I sat down next to Isadora and let out a heavy sigh.

"That was... tiresome."

Isadora nodded. "You know I do trust you right?"

"Of course, and I know I'm not that kind of guy. You're my love Izzie."

Isadora flashed me a flirty smile; one that melted my insides and made me forget all about my anger. "You know... we are alone now until the others get back..."

I set my glasses aside and she happily climbed onto my lap so we could have some "quality alone time."

**~Duncan's POV**

That's where I learned the name! The Widdershins family is in V.F.D! I flipped through a copy of _The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations;_ I borrowed it from Judy since she's a volunteer too, and finally found a section on them. It didn't have much info other than a fire at some place called Anwhistle Aquatics but the details were almost non-existent. I remember when Hector was telling us about his volunteer days he said some things are classified for even the most high up volunteers, and the research that this facility was doing was listed as exactly that: _classified_.

"Duncan there you are!" I looked up and saw Violet had joined me in the library.

"Were you looking for me, love?"

"Let me start from the beginning. First: have you seen Quigley anywhere?"

"I saw him like 5 minutes ago. He's making a map of the school for his new crush so he came by."

"Have you... met his new crush?"

I nodded. "Yeah her name's Fiona and I met her when he did; we were walking to class. She seems perfectly nice."

"Ok now let me tell you what the problem is."

She sat down next to me and told me everything about Fiona Widdershins.

I processed this information. "I don't see how you didn't figure it out that she and Fernald were related because now that you've told me I definitely see the family resemblance."

Violet groaned. "That's not the point, honey! The point is I know you're looking into those missing students and Fiona, who has a brother that _has_ a history of kidnapping children, appears out of nowhere and it's supposed to be a coincidence? Klaus and Izzie trust Quigley's judgment and I trust them... but I'm still worried."

I pulled out my journalist notebook and flipped to a new page. I made some notes on Fiona and Fernald, from what Violet told me, and set aside the rest of the page for further notes on the missing students to see if there truly is a connection. I showed her what I wrote.

"I trust Klaus and Quigley, but I also trust you and I want to solve this mystery. You _could_ be right, you _could_ be wrong, either way there's still students missing and we need to find out why first. So before you jump to conclusions about Fiona let's start by looking into the case itself first ok?"

Violet opened her mouth to say something but quickly reconsidered. "Ok honey... we'll go with your plan."

I glanced around the room noticing we were alone, and then gave her one of those smiles she loves so much. "And we can start by helping you calm down first..."

I put my arm around her and she instantly knew what I meant because she locked her lips with mine.

We had about an hour before the librarian comes in to lock up for the night, might as well spend it wisely.

**~End of Chapter**

**Yay ship moments! Yes 3 chapters in one day. I'm so productive and also crazy! See you in the next part!**


	5. Date Night

**Begin!**

**~Violet's POV**

"Duncan, did you find anything useful?"

"No," He replied flipping through his limited information from some interviews of certain students. "And stop watching them. You're going to cause a scene."

I couldn't help it. Quigley was talking to Fiona and my instincts told me to listen in on their conversation.

"I finished that map for you." Quigley said handing her a folded up piece of paper. "I'm pretty happy with how it turned out."

"Thank you, Quiggles I appreciate it," Fiona replied putting the paper inside her notebook, "And as promised, I am free tonight if that date offer is still open."

Quigley smiled, "It's definitely still open. Is seven a good time?" (I'm surprised he had a very tame reaction to being called Quiggles. Perhaps she has done it before already since we didn't see her over the recent weekend.)

I heard her agree to their plans and turned my attention back to my boyfriend. They had a date tonight... If someone goes missing again she'd have the perfect alibi. The rational part of my brain says I'm letting my bias against her from our history cloud my judgment. But the part of my brain that's worried about my family is much louder. I even texted Klaus and Isadora to explicitly tell them to always walk together, just in case. (They kind of did that most days anyway; they're a couple, they like walking together.) Thankfully, they agreed since the most recent missing people were from their classes and they had taken notice.

I actually did see Fiona notice me as well during their conversation. She had very little to no reaction to seeing me again. We locked eyes for a moment then she turned her attention back to Quigley as if nothing had happened. Duncan and I had asked Quigley about Fiona; we had to for our investigation. It was here that I learned the hard way about Quigley being the stubborn one.

In the past 4 days since our investigation started three more people have gone missing. Quigley was able to admit that Duncan was right about it being suspicious and was on board with investigating. But he would have _none_ of my comments about Fiona being involved. I know Quigley has a weak spot for pretty girls but this could get bad if he's not at least a little cautious! When we talked about it, he and I got into a disagreement neither of us was going to back down from unless there was proof that one of us was right.

I sat down next to Duncan and we looked over his interviews together. So far we had nothing of substance. The teachers were sure nothing was wrong. Duncan says Judy insists that it's fine. None of us believe them.

"Excuse me, Duncan?"

The two of us looked up to see a girl from the school newspaper staff. She looked worried and was clutching her phone in a strained manner.

"What is it Kayla; we're not working today."

"Have you seen my sister anywhere? I've been told she was excused from class, but she hasn't answered her phone and I can't find her at all..."

I couldn't say it out loud to not hurt the girl's feelings even worse, but that's 10 students total now…

"I'm sure she'll turn up soon enough," Duncan replied gently. "But I'm sorry I haven't seen Kylie either."

Kayla looked down and muttered a quiet "ok" and left. Duncan gave me a worried look.

"We need a new plan."

I looked over and noticed Quigley now doing some school work, and Fiona was looking over the map he had given her, but had headphones on now; listening to something on her phone most likely. They were still sitting together; rather closely too. Good it meant they were distracted so we could slip out. I motioned for Duncan to follow me. We gathered up our school bags and left the dorm's common room.

"Duncan I'm just going to be straight up with you. If Klaus or Isadora disappear next, then I'm calling 'probable cause.'"

He looked at me with a defeated expression knowing there was a very good chance that such a thing could happen. And with him knowing Fiona's history with my family, he would have to believe that outcome could happen.

"If you insist," He said, "Now about our new plan. We've interviewed a few people but it's not enough. We need to get a list of all the students that are missing and cross reference it to see if there's any connection between them that could be a lead."

I nodded. "We'll have to check the office, I'll find some materials and get us a lock pick and we can sneak in tonight."

"And don't think of Quigley going on a date tonight as 'Fiona having an alibi.' IF she's involved, and that's a _big_ if, then think of it as 'him keeping her out of our way' instead."

I considered his suggestion. "Ok just don't tell Quigley we're using him that way or he might tell her."

**~Later that evening... Quigley's POV**

"Hey Izzie, where's Duncan and his paranoid girlfriend?" I asked putting my jacket on.

"That 'paranoid girlfriend' happens to be my best friend! And they're still answering their phones so I don't know, but they're probably off making out somewhere if they're not working their case."

"Ha, you're probably right."

Isadora wished me to have fun on my date before going into her room. (Thank god somebody is on my side...) I found Klaus in the living room reading another one of his books. He smiled at me and got up.

"Quigley before you go, I just wanted to say, I don't mind you being with her. And I shouldn't mind that because she and I never had anything official between us. I'm sorry about Violet too; she is being kind of paranoid."

"I know, and I'll be careful when I head off campus too. But uh... stay in the dorm tonight ok?"

He nodded. "Of course, I'll make sure Izzie's safe."

I was smiling to myself the whole trolley ride off campus. Duncan was trying to remain neutral but I could tell he didn't care about me dating Fiona. Violet was the only one who seemed to have a problem with it. Hell, Klaus was fine with it! And I would have expected him to be the one with a problem, or even Isadora for not wanting her boyfriend's ex around.

To be perfectly honest, after being told what Fiona did I was still on her side. And I even explained to her the Baudelaires were very close to my family now. When I told her that Klaus and Isadora were together she said she was happy to hear that because they deserve it. I'm not the best with observation like my brother but she didn't sound disappointed or angry about it. And she hasn't asked about Klaus once. Plus, she agreed to go on a date with me so I have to assume she'd be over it to bring herself to do that.

Once I reached her address I was greeted at the door by her brother Fernald... who wasn't happy to see me but I assume he couldn't do anything about it. Big brothers are all the same no matter which side of the schism they were on I guess.

"Have her home by 10, or else," He commanded leaving the threat open for debate on what he would do to me if I didn't cooperate.

I nodded vigorously.

"Fernald I told you not to threaten him!" Fiona stepped past him in the doorway and smiled at me.

I saw Fernald glare at me and make a gesture with one of his hooks that he would keep an eye on me as he shut the door. Ignoring the fact that I was now slightly fearful for my life, Fiona happily took my arm and it brought me out of my trance as we started walking off together. I got a chance to look at how she had put some extra effort into her appearance for tonight. Her hair was parted differently and behind her glasses I could see a modest amount of make-up. We weren't going anywhere fancy, but she still looked beautiful in her dark blue dress.

"What are you looking at?"

I smiled, "Just admiring the view."

We had a perfectly lovely time on our date. I ensured that she was home at the correct time; mainly because I was scared to death of Fernald. And I even got a kiss from her too!

**~Duncan's POV**

I stood watch as Violet picked open the lock on the office door. It felt wrong breaking into Judy's office when she trusted us so dearly, but in this instance Violet declared it an emergency and said we would apologize later. Once the door was open we hurried inside. I started by pulling out the stack of parent slips I had seen before, noticing it was bigger than last time I saw it, and flipped through each name writing all of them in my notes.

"You were wrong, love, there's not 10 there's 11. They were probably unaccounted from classes that none of the five of us have."

"That's even worse," She replied quietly, "Do you see any connections between them?"

I glanced at the computer on the desk, "See if you can get us into the student database. I want to check something because these papers barely have anything on them."

Violet turned on the computer and with some guessing managed to get past its password lock. I kept an eye on the door while she browsed the database for me.

"What should I look up first?"

"Type in the name 'Christopher Rawles' and we'll cross reference it with his parent slip."

She did exactly that and the screen popped up a page about him. Nothing out of the ordinary so far as she scrolled through his information; then I noticed it.

"_Excused from all classes until further notice_," I read aloud, "That's not even mentioned on his slip. Try the next one, name 'Nathaniel Law.'"

Different student, same excuse; we continued down the list until every name had been researched and every one had the same reason, even Kayla's sister.

In the process of doing this, I also realized something else. "This stack isn't in alphabetical order; it's in order by date of absence."

"That probably doesn't mean much," Violet replied. "Whenever someone is excused from campus it's usually because of a home reason, correct?"

"That sounds right, usually for a death in the family or something. Which would explain why the teachers didn't say anything if it's a personal issue like that."

"So... are these kids all that unlucky to have different family emergencies that take them off campus?"

"They can't all be that."

"Why not?"

"There's an inconsistency, love. Kayla and Kylie are twins."

Violet's lovely dark eyes widened. "If there was a family emergency then both of them would be sent home..."

She turned to the computer screen again and started typing something in. She pulled up Fiona's file.

"I just want to check for anything suspicious," She insisted.

The file looked the same as all the others except there was no excuse from classes. She even pulled up her own student file to compare just to be sure that it all checked out.

Violet sighed, "I guess it is just a coincidence..."

I smiled, "See? You were overreacting."

I patted her hand as I usually did when I want to comfort and reassure her about things. She looked somewhat guilty too. That's good, maybe it meant that she and Fiona could reconcile. She shut down the computer and I put the papers back exactly where I had found them and we quickly stepped out of the office, ensuring we left no trace of our ever being there.

The problem was... we still don't know what's causing the disappearances.

**~End of Chapter**

**See you in the next part!**


	6. Not Out of the Woods Yet

**Begin!**

**~Normal POV**

In the weeks to pass, Quigley and Fiona had kept up a steady relationship. He had even started walking with her to classes, despite not having any with her. With the disappearances, he wanted to ensure her safety.

And with each new disappearance, Duncan and Violet's investigation hit another dead end. They did notice however that the number had slowed despite its increase. It had been 11, but the number has steadily risen to 15. (The last 4 of which had not been people any of them had classes with.) Currently Duncan was enlisting the help of Klaus in reviewing what little information they had.

"Fifteen students, in a full month, vanish off the premises and the staff isn't saying anything. And there are absolutely no connections between the people who disappear? You're sure you've interviewed every teacher with a missing student," Klaus asked.

"Every one, I double checked," Duncan replied.

"This is starting to be a lost cause," Violet said.

"Guys you don't think they could be... dead right," Isadora asked worriedly, grabbing Klaus' arm for comfort.

"Not a chance," Duncan replied, "If a student died everyone would know immediately and the school database proves that wrong."

"The school database said 'until further notice,' right? That _has_ to mean they'll come back eventually, but more keep vanishing," Klaus said.

"Violet... you're not still hung up on Fiona having anything to do with it are you," Quigley asked looking at her.

The two hadn't gotten a chance to talk about the situation. After their fight about the subject, neither one wanted to bring it up.

Violet considered her answer thoroughly. "No, but my bigger concern is not having any other leads to try."

Quigley smiled at her and accepted her answer. "I could see about making a copy of the map I gave Fiona so we can do more looking around."

He pulled out his phone and started to text her about it. He then said that she was currently in the library so she could do exactly that with the librarian's permission. He was warned to be careful leaving the dorm alone, which he knew he would be. Once Quigley was outside however, he was stopped by Violet coming out to join him.

"Quigley, I... I'm sorry I yelled at you. It was wrong of me to do that and... I'm sorry."

He smiled at her, "It's ok Vi; I mean you did kind of have sound reasoning even if it was exaggerated."

She gave him a relieved smile, "I just... care about my family and with everything being so good for so many months and then turning bad again in such an alarming way I got overzealous."

"And paranoid," He added with a grin.

She sighed, "Yes I was paranoid."

"A lot actually, but don't worry about it. Once Fiona and I have been together for a bit longer I'll see about bringing her over to let you and Klaus work it out."

Violet thought for a moment as Quigley started to walk away. "How long have you been together so far?"

"A month," He replied casually before turning a corner and leaving.

_"Huh... that's new."_

**~Quigley's POV**

Once I reached the library, I went inside and saw Fiona waiting for me by the copy machine.

"Morning, doll."

She smiled at me. "Morning Quiggles you'll have to be a little patient with me I didn't get much sleep last night."

I could see that. Her eyes looked a little red behind her glasses. I put my hand on her back.

"What happened?"

"Hm? Oh I just have trouble sleeping some nights that's all. Nothing you need to worry about. Anyway how many copies of the map did you need?"

"Oh, uh, 5," I continued as she started up the machine and the paper began printing, "If there's something wrong I would love to know what it is."

"I'm fine Quigley, but I appreciate you caring."

Perhaps it was the sleep deprivation talking, but her tone sounded final like she wanted nothing more said on the subject. Once the papers were done printing I gathered them up in my bag and walked out of the library with her. I also noticed that her steps were slower and more spaced out as if walking was painful to her. I couldn't help being worried about her. Thankfully, we didn't have any classes today because of a staff meeting so I don't have to worry about her falling asleep in class.

After dinner that night, I left the dorm under the promise to my family that I was going to visit Fiona at her apartment. (Something I wanted to do to check up on her; she typically leaves campus after dinner.) Plus the idea of spending some time with her was not an opportunity I would pass up. With the investigation halted, I knew my siblings were more interested in spending some quality time with their own significant others since they've had fewer chances to do so.

What I wasn't expecting was seeing Fiona walk out of the school building holding what I recognized as a copy of _The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations_ and seeing her brother waiting outside the school with a car. The two quickly got in and drove off not even noticing me. That's odd; usually Fernald is too busy working to pick her up so she takes the trolley home. Feeling smart, and curious, I pulled out my phone and texted her to see if she would answer.

_"Hey doll, I was thinking about coming over for a bit tonight. Would that be alright?"_

I waited for a moment before I got a reply.

_"That sounds nice. I'll be waiting for you, Quiggles."_

Ok that's normal. And the little heart emoji next to it made it sound more ok. But I'm still concerned about that book. I know the others have told me that her family is in the organization, but they weren't sure if she was or not. I suppose I can ask her when I get there. With that in mind, I hopped onto the trolley to spend the evening with my girlfriend.

When I reached the apartment I found that there was something a bit different this time.

"Hi Quiggles," Fiona gave me a quick kiss before letting me in, "Fernald is working nights now so we have the place to ourselves. He dropped me off before heading out."

"Doesn't that mean he'll kill me?"

"No I trust you, and I wouldn't let anything happen anyway. I'm not stupid."

I've been inside their apartment before, but this time the living room table was cluttered with the heavy secret book, a book called _Mushroom Minutiae_, and over a dozen papers that were overturned so I couldn't see what was written on them, along with her original copy of my school map. She had clearly been busy before I got here.

"What's all this?"

Fiona waved her hand dismissively and went to pick up the papers and stuffed them in the large book and set it inside a nearby desk. "I was doing some research," She replied calmly.

I looked at her more closely and saw that behind the tiredness of her eyes she seemed down. Like something was wrong. She also barely smiled when she greeted me, despite seeming happy to have me around. All these things piled up along with her not usually leaving papers and things out if she meant to clean them up. (She's like Duncan in that way; the tidy, well-kept one.) But it bothered me. With all the things happening in this mystery of students disappearing, my doll was now a little out of it and troubled. At least she didn't disappear too, I reasoned internally; that would have been a nightmare.

"Fiona, you're acting strange... is there something wrong?"

She pushed her glasses up her nose. "I'm fine, and if I did have a problem a nice evening with you would help out anyway. But I'm fine, just busy recently that's all."

Living with my journalist nerd older brother for so many years has taught me a little about observing things. And one thing I have learned is how to spot a lie.

"You're lying."

"Quigley, what would I have to gain from lying to you?"

"To keep something from me."

"And why would I want to do that?"

God damn it, she's too smart.

"I don't know but it has something to do with how you've been acting today and why you have that book. Maybe you don't think I'd notice these things, but I did, and if you're keeping something from me I want to know what it is."

I might have sounded a bit angry but with what's been going on lately, you can never be too careful. She took her time thinking about her answer. I saw a few tears form behind her glasses and she looked down sadly with a deep breath and answered my question with a sentence that only opened a million new questions.

"I'm on a mission, and I know what happened to the missing students."

**~End of Chapter**


	7. Revelations

**Begin!**

**~Quigley's POV**

"You know what's been going on?"

"Yes, and I wasn't supposed to tell you, but this is a serious mission and if you aren't aware of the danger then you could get hurt too."

Fiona pushed her glasses up to rub her eyes and sat down; I joined her. "The stress has been killing me."

"Is that why you're so tired?"

"Partly; I was up all night searching the school from top to bottom. I'm exhausted and my legs hurt, but I managed to search everywhere. Miss Strauss is a volunteer too; she gave me the keys to every room for my investigation."

"Judy knows and she wouldn't say anything..."

"Trust me when I say there's a good reason for discretion. I would tell you more but-"

"Don't, or at least not right at this moment. You've been up all night and I'm worried about you."

She smiled softly, "I appreciate you caring. It's nice to have you here; keeping you around makes the stress not so overpowering. I'm also sorry that I had to use your map for my mission too. It really is a nice gift and I wish I didn't need it for such a purpose."

"Heh, you used me for my maps?"

"It's more accurate to say I saw an opportunity and didn't hesitate. Starting something with you also wasn't part of the plan, but I wanted to take your offer, and I knew it would ease some of the emotional burden."

I put my arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Ok doll here's what we're going to do. First, you get plenty of sleep tonight. Second, tomorrow you're coming over to our dorm to talk about this with my family. Violet might not like it but she wants to solve this mystery too, so I promise she'll cooperate."

"I didn't originally want you involved but since the situation is growing worse, I have to ask for help. And I can handle whatever Violet wants to say to me; not like I haven't heard it before..."

Needless to say, tensions were high when I brought Fiona over the next day. I had convinced Violet to hold her tongue, but thankfully Klaus was indifferent and concerned with getting things figured out. Isadora was happy to meet her, which made Fiona rather thankful that she wasn't bitter towards her, and Duncan was happy to know that we had the organization's help after all. (Even in secret) Once we were all settled in the dorm we began our discussion.

"First of all, Duncan, Violet, your investigating has caused some problems for this mission already. I hate to have to tell you this but asking questions is putting students on edge," Fiona started.

"Ok, we apologize for that. I hope we didn't compromise too much."

"Just don't do it anymore and we should be fine. Secondly, the students aren't missing. They're being kept in a V.F.D. safe place until the situation is resolved."

"How do you know that," Violet asked.

"Because it's part of my mission to know these details," Fiona replied, "Miss Strauss knows I'm on the case, and there's two teachers here who are volunteers in disguise that have been taking the students away whenever it happens. I assure you they're all alive and well; keeping them there is a precaution."

"At least we know they're not hurt," Isadora said with a relieved sigh, "But why is this happening?"

Fiona picked up her bag and set it down on our table with a loud thud. She reached inside and pulled out a small metal lock-box to show us. "In order to tell you exactly what's going on: I need to start at the beginning."

She started her story at a few months after the Baudelaires disappeared from V.F.D.'s radar; they were living on that island. She said that after some months of going back to living with her stepfather and her brother on their submarine she was called into the organization for a special assignment.

"Fernald came with, so I'd have someone to provide for me while I was away from home and it's been like that since. Frank Denouement said I would have everything I needed to complete my work. I had my mycology research, and a submarine, and I was given the help of a very good chemist."

She unlocked the lock-box and showed us that inside was nothing but some padding to keep its contents safe and a pocket sized vial of a mystery liquid.

"This is a sample of what we created. Mrs. Hix likes to call it 'the cure' since the scientific name is quite long and hard to pronounce. Our assignment was simple, we were asked to make a substance that would destroy the Medusoid Mycelium forever. Something that, when applied to the mushrooms, would make them shrivel up and die; never to poison anyone again and that's what I have here." She took a moment to explain to us the specifics of the mushroom and why they were deadly. (Something Violet and Klaus claimed to already have known.)

"That's amazing that you managed to do it," I said in awe.

Fiona smiled at me, "Thank you, it was not easy, long hours, lots of tests, and jars of wasabi by the crate-full were necessary for the safety of everyone in the lab. But after months of working we finally managed to do it. The formula is non-toxic to humans, a couple brave assistants offered to test it, and it acts as liquid horseradish essentially."

Klaus looked at Fiona curiously, "Sounds like paradise, so where did it go wrong?"

Fiona made an amused sound at that. "You guessed correctly. About 2 months ago, shortly before we were going to take the cure to the Gorgonian Grotto, someone broke into the lab and stole our remaining samples of Medusoid Mycelium."

"I think I know where this is going..." Duncan said nervously.

Fiona nodded. "We tracked him here and he's been poisoning the students. The two volunteers in disguise are monitoring everything, eyes everywhere. Every poisoning happens in an area where they're isolated from other people, and the victims he picks are random so there's no lead to follow. Obviously this guy wants to make it look suspicious, put people on edge. Which is exactly why asking about it isn't helping. The volunteers know I'm working on this too since they came with me. When someone would get hit, they would give them some of the cure and send them away with other volunteers to convince them to swear to secrecy."

She took a breath before continuing, "We've been remarkably lucky to catch each one before they succumb to the poison; no deaths so far let's keep it that way. The non-volunteer staff is clueless to ensure they don't let it out. Judy unfortunately knows what's happening but has been warned to make things look as normal as possible to not incite panic. Every victim was given a forged parent permission slip to get out of class. My mission is to find where he's keeping those mushrooms and destroy them."

"That's why you needed Quigley to make you that map," Duncan commented.

"I searched everywhere I could find and came up with nothing. 200 students in this school and every single one of their lives is depending on this vial." She closed the box and locked it. "I've been carrying it around in the bottom of my school bag just in case. I can't afford to let it out of my sight. Cleo can always make another batch, it's her formula, but this is all I was able to take with me since I had to work in the shadows. Discretion is the key to success; we're in a very delicate situation."

I put my hand on Fiona's shoulder, "No wonder you said the stress has been killing you, that's a lot to ask of a person."

She gave me a sad look. "What kind of noble organization puts that kind of weight on one person's shoulders?"

We were all under the impression that V.F.D. was a noble organization. And it seemed that it was. It had the best intentions to help people, but the amount of stress that such a dedication put onto my lovely mycologist made me question Jacques speech about representing "true human tradition." But it seemed that even the most noble of intentions can make vastly frightening decisions when the need for 'getting the job done' arises. She's just a teenager, one who doesn't seem to want to be a part of this life anymore... she doesn't need the lives of over 200 people depending on her. She doesn't deserve the risk of what could very well be a suicide mission if we're not careful.

"The mushrooms are man-cultivated," Fiona said, swallowing her previous concerns to focus on the case, "If we accomplish this mission they'll be gone for good. Cleo's fellow scientists should have already cleansed the grotto by now while I've been working on my end."

"Does your stepfather know the risk you're taking here," Isadora asked.

"I'm sure he knows by now. But with his work on the Queequeg there's nothing he can do about me being here. Fernald is the one who's supposed to ensure I come home safely. He'd never let anything hurt me."

"I know your brother hasn't been the best person when Duncan and I met him, but he has a lot of honor if he's willing to change for his family," Isadora said. Duncan voiced his agreement. Violet and Klaus chose not to comment.

I couldn't help thinking about myself when she said that. I used to be a jerk to my family, but after "dying" I wanted to change for them. Now it's a little different because I never kidnapped anyone, or locked a baby in a cage hanging from a 30 foot tower, but the point still stands in lesser extreme sense. Fernald, as much as Violet and Klaus probably didn't want to admit it, does genuinely love his family and would do anything for them. It's the same with me, I'll stand by my family until I'm really 6ft under, and I think it's amazing that Fiona was able to make that same choice even if it was more extreme.

"I appreciate you saying that, Isadora, thank you." Fiona replied smiling. "And I'm sorry about anything he might have done to you while working for Olaf."

It's nice to see my sister attempting to get along with her boyfriend's former partner. It's a very noble decision rather than being vindictive and bitter. Isadora was always like that; she loves making new friends, and it would be horrible to lose that mindset while Fiona is genuinely trying to help us.

"What happened with the break in," Klaus asked, "Do they know who did it?"

"Well we can be sure it wasn't one of the scientists. They got in through the window by throwing a few bricks through it. Woke up the entire facility, and the guards couldn't catch him. Cleo was furious; her poor husband spent nearly two hours helping her calm down."

Duncan was looking at the school map with intrigue. "Fiona, has V.F.D. had an involvement at Prufrock before?"

"To my knowledge, yes but it was a long time ago. Way before any of us were born. Why?"

"You said it grows best and fastest in small enclosed spaces too." Duncan turned and went to the other side of the room.

He reached down and pulled a copy of _The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations_ out from our bookshelf and flipped it open to a certain page.

"That means that there should be some very old tunnels still under the school. If I was a betting man, I'd put our entire sapphire fortune on those tunnels being the perfect place to grow some deadly mushrooms."

**~End of Chapter!**


	8. Working Together

**Begin!**

**~Normal POV**

"If we're going to search the school for tunnel entrances we need everyone out of the hallways and any other rooms that they could compromise," Violet said.

"We might not be able to do that ourselves," Fiona replied, "Is there any kind of function going on soon?"

The six teenagers thought for a moment before realizing the answer to their question.

"There's an assembly in the auditorium tonight, attendance is mandatory whenever that happens," Isadora answered.

"Then we need to get Judy to let us search the school while it happens," Duncan noted, "The announcement said it could take a long time since there's a lot to discuss."

Fiona pulled out her phone. "Give me a moment, I'm going to call my associates and make sure they're in that auditorium to keep an eye out for trouble."

While she stepped into the other room to make her phone call the others contemplated their plan of attack.

"Duncan and I will search outside around the athletic field, Klaus and Isadora can search the classrooms and library. Quigley, you and Fiona will search everywhere else." As Violet was talking Fiona returned, "We split off in pairs to cover more ground. Since we're looking for a secret underground tunnel I highly doubt we need to go to the upper floors. Are those volunteers on board with our plan?"

"They are; they said they will do whatever they can on their end to buy us time. We'll go to the office soon to let Judy know what's happening. When's the assembly?"

"7:30 tonight," Duncan replied, "If you find an entrance, text the others and we'll meet up and go inside together."

Their plan was risky. A million things could go horribly wrong in a million different ways. But that was the price of being a volunteer.

"I'm scared..." Isadora said quietly.

"Do the scary thing first; get scared later," Quigley replied, "Jacques said that once during my stay with him; I don't know where he learned it."

**~Later…**

After convincing Judy to accept their plan the six of them were setting up to head off on their quest. Each couple had a spyglass and they had ways to communicate if anything went wrong. But before they set out Violet pulled Fiona aside for a private conversation.

"Listen, you and I, we don't work well together; you surely know that," She started, "But my family is in danger. So I'm making a conscious decision to trust you. If anything happens and it's _your_ fault, I don't need to tell you what will happen from there. Got it?"

"Violet, I swear to you, the only reason I came to Prufrock was for my mission." Fiona put her cure vial in her jacket. "I'm not asking you to like me, but I am asking you to have faith in me. I promise nothing will happen to your family."

"The not liking you part is what's making that so hard to believe."

Fiona gave her a simple nod to show she understood that response and Violet walked away.

"I'm sorry about my sister."

Fiona gave Klaus an understanding smile, "It's... fine. She doesn't have to be nice to me for this to work."

"I guess not, but I'm sure it'd be easier on you if she did."

"...Why haven't you said anything?"

"Because even if I was going to, now is not the time for such comments. We all have to work together," Klaus replied, "You're trying to help us, that's good enough for me. Anything that happened in the past we can talk about later. Violet's just scared and she's letting it cloud her judgment. She'll get over it once we're safe."

"I sure hope so..."

"Quigley speaks highly of you by the way," Klaus said, obviously changing the subject.

"Really?"

Within seconds, Quigley appeared beside Klaus and told him to stop spreading "rumors," a comment which made Fiona laugh. And with that bit of positivity the three couples set out in separate directions to start their quest after being informed that everyone was in the auditorium, giving them free reign of the buildings.

**~Klaus' POV**

Isadora and I decided to search the library first to get it out of the way. V.F.D. typically had tunnels under libraries because they were considered safe places so it felt logical. I liked that Isadora and Fiona got along too. It would have been so easy for them not to, but Isadora is better than that; her compassion is one of the reasons why I love her.

"Klaus come over here!"

I followed the sound of her voice over to behind the librarian's desk. Isadora was crouched behind it standing next to a trap door.

"I'll text the others," I said pulling out my phone.

"No, look at this." She opened the door to show me there were metal plates covering the entrance. "Whoever is doing this doesn't want anyone to stumble upon their plan. They must have sealed off some of the doors."

"That... can't be good if we're trying to go down there."

At this moment I received a text from Violet and Duncan that the same had happened with a trap door under the bleachers outside. I relayed this information to Isadora. Two entrances/exits sealed off ahead of time. This guy must have a lot of confidence in his strategy or he's an idiot... if he's anything like Olaf, probably both.

**~At the same time, Quigley's POV**

There weren't many places to check outside of the areas the others were told to, but that didn't mean we couldn't find something.

"So, what were some of those things that you've said about me anyway?"

I avoided the question because it was embarrassing but I did have a question for her too. "If you were on a mission this whole time, why did you agree to go out with me?"

Fiona smiled at me, "I wanted to. And when you asked me I had already done my work for that day and came out with nothing. Using your map made things faster now that I knew my way around. You have a calming effect about you, Quiggles, having you around makes this easier on my sanity. So I balanced the two; I'm rather good at multitasking."

"Is there anything you can't do?"

"There are a lot of things I can't do," She replied modestly.

"So whenever you'd say you were busy..."

"I was working the case."

I was about to say something else, but was interrupted by a sound that we were not supposed to hear as part of the plan: footsteps. I pulled Fiona behind me and we hid from the coming sound. Looking around the corner from our hiding place we saw a man in a trench coat walking casually towards the teachers' lounge. From our distance, we couldn't make out his face properly. He opened the door and went inside.

"Everyone is supposed to be in the auditorium for the assembly. If he's a teacher what's he doing out here," I asked.

"That's not a teacher; that has to be our enemy..."

"The culprit is another teacher in disguise! Are you sure it's not one of your volunteer friends turned against us?"

"I'm positive," Fiona replied, "The volunteers I've been working with here are a married couple, I've spent plenty of time with them, and they would be working together if they were villains. And they know that we're searching the school. So why would one of them risk being seen by us if they turned to the other side?"

"You're right, but we need to follow him, because he'll lead us straight to what we're looking for."

I quickly texted the others about our findings and told them to meet us in the teachers' lounge. Our mystery culprit went in there for a reason, and that reason is that there must be a trap door inside.

**~End of Chapter!**


	9. The Tunnels

**Begin!**

**~Normal POV**

Klaus and Isadora met up with Quigley and Fiona first. A quick look inside the teachers' lounge told them that Quigley's theory was correct; their culprit had gone inside but there was no sign of him within.

"What's taking Violet and Duncan so long," Isadora asked.

"No idea, but I hope they're ok," Fiona replied.

"Should I try texting them again," Quigley asked.

Within moments of him saying that Violet and Duncan came walking towards them from the other side of the hallway. This time they appeared to have something with them.

"We stopped by the cafeteria to grab this just in case." Violet showed them a jar of wasabi before putting it in her bag. "Sorry it took a while to find it, it was also the only one."

"We also found that the trap door under the cafeteria is still open. Why there's a trap door under the cafeteria I have no idea," Duncan added.

"Probably for plot convenience," Klaus said, offhandedly but nobody seemed to hear him.

Fiona made a comment about the wasabi being a very good idea. They went into the room and looked around for the secret entrance. After several minutes of searching Violet found what they were looking for. She flipped a strange switch she found behind one of the tables in the room, and it opened a secret entrance in the wall with a set of stairs leading down.

"These tunnels must be ancient," Fiona commented shining her spyglass light inside, "I'm surprised it still functions."

Violet took a closer look at the door mechanism. "It's old but it's been recently repaired. See, the gears are brand new. It probably didn't work well because of the age. He must have a good knowledge of mechanics."

Isadora checked the time on her phone. "It's 8:02 now so we've still got time before the assembly lets out. You said your volunteer friends can buy us more time right?"

"That's correct, if we need it I'll call them," Fiona said.

With that they set off into the tunnels. Much like the tunnels that had been under Dark Avenue these looked roughly the same. Fiona used her spyglass as a means to see while the others followed closely. After some time, they started up a soft conversation.

"Since we're on the way, can you tell us anything about the guy we're going after," Quigley asked.

"Unfortunately not," Fiona replied, "Other than what you already know, he poisons children and we need to stop him. We asked around after the break in, but nobody knew him."

"You don't even know his name," Klaus said quizzically.

"We tracked him through the reports of poisonings happening in a few other locations. I assume somebody got on his bad side, or he just wanted to test it out. There were also some reports of stolen science equipment along the way. I guess he needed it for his plan."

"The tunnels usually have small light fixtures don't they," Violet said. "But this place looks like it was cleaned out."

"Probably by him if he thinks he's the only one who knows about it." Fiona then paused and turned her spyglass towards something on the wall. "Violet what do you make of this?"

Violet took a step closer and examined what she had found, an indent in the wall with bits of metal sticking out. Every side of this part of the wall was like this. Fiona bravely volunteered to take the first step forward, just in case it was some sort of trap. Everything seemed fine when she did.

"Maybe it's broken."

Klaus looked at the ground carefully before stepping forward to join Fiona to make sure it was truly safe. And sure enough, it wasn't. The metal in the walls flung out to separate the two from the group. It acted as a metal door or arch, and upon closer inspection of the floor, the two found that they had stepped onto a pressure pad trap of sorts that activated it.

"Klaus are you guys ok," Isadora shouted through the barrier.

"We're fine, Izzie, it's just blocking us," Klaus replied, keeping his nerves calm.

"What should we do now?" They heard Duncan ask, while they could hear Quigley frantically trying to find a way to remove the barrier.

"Get back outside and find my volunteer friends." Fiona used her phone to send them pictures to identify the two with; they were in disguise after all. "They'll keep you safe until we get out of here. And if things get really bad they'll call for backup."

"What makes you think you'll get out of there," Quigley screamed. Klaus could hear worry in his friend's tone.

"This guy is obviously not stupid enough to make a trap like this if there wasn't a back door out of here. We'll get out of this, I'm sure of it."

Klaus looked at Fiona in the light of her spyglass and saw that she was calm. She truly was a trained volunteer. Never panic when something bad happens. Isadora and Quigley gave their respective significant others a wish of good luck and they could hear the sounds of the rest of the group walking back the other way to do as Fiona said. Klaus inwardly entertained the notion that it was difficult for Violet to take orders from her, but she had no choice. If Klaus was in trouble too, Violet would do what it took to get him out of it.

"Ready to start walking," Klaus said remaining casual.

"Of course, at least we don't have to worry about a cave squid down here." Fiona replied as she started leading the way.

"What's a cave squid?"

"It's an idiom."

The two continued on their path, leading the way to whatever they would find. Fiona kept one hand on her jacket pocket to remind herself that her vial was still with her. The two didn't want to think about the fact that they had been separated from the only other source of horseradish in their immediate vicinity; thinking about it would only make them panic. Panicking was not what was going to solve their problems.

"Fiona, can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"I was being serious."

"Ok what?"

"Why do you keep letting Violet insult you like that?"

Fiona looked up at him with a slightly pained look in her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know what exactly what I mean. She's being rude to you, thinking that any second now you're going to stab us in the back, but you haven't tried to tell her off. You haven't even tried to deny that it could happen. You won't stand up for yourself."

"Violet is allowed to say whatever she wants to," She replied, "Just because I believe she's wrong doesn't mean I can stop her from saying those things."

"It's hurting you."

"I'll live."

Her tone was final. She wanted nothing more said on the subject. But Klaus wanted to talk about it. This is the first time he got to be truly alone with Fiona since seeing her again. It was as good a time as any to talk about it as they were walking alone down here.

"You asked me why I wasn't saying anything like that," He started slowly, "I figure now is as good a time as any to say it's because I forgave you."

Fiona stopped walking. "What?"

"I forgave you," He repeated, "For everything."

When she didn't respond, he added, "And I'm sorry for... yelling at you. I'm sorry for getting so mad. I'm sorry that I... I was selfish. I was blinded by anger, and I didn't stop to think about why you did it. But I've had time to think over this past year, and I realized that I was wrong too. I should have understood. You were able to still recognize your brother as family even after he'd worked on the wrong side for so long. That... that's really admirable that you could just accept him back without question. I really respect that. And for what it's worth, of all the things that have gone wrong, seeing how much Quigley loves being with you and how happy you make him is not one of them. You two look really happy together, and he cares about you an awful lot. I know you haven't been together long, but I have known Quigley a long time now and I see the effect you have on him. He thinks you're heaven on earth; I'm happy for you two."

"I'm sorry too Klaus... for everything. Believe me, if I could go back and do it over again I never would have done it... _any_ of it." He watched as she reached up and wiped her eyes behind her glasses. "And you have no idea how much I needed to hear those words."

Without a second thought, the two embraced in a warm friendly hug. Walking into almost certain death had a way of making the past seem unimportant. What mattered now was two people, who still cared about each other as people, wanting to make things right on the off chance that they go horribly wrong afterwards. In the back of his mind, Klaus reasoned that he would get Violet and Sunny on board with it later once they were safe. Right now what mattered was letting this girl know that he trusted her again; letting her know that he was just as sorry as she was, letting the two of them reconcile in private before taking it anywhere else.

"So you and I are... ok," Klaus asked once they had pulled apart.

Fiona smiled at him. "Aye, we're ok."

He returned her smile, and the two continued their journey into danger. Along the way, Klaus lightened the mood by telling Fiona some of the comments Quigley made about her.

"Isadora has a sixth sense about her brothers; it's like she can read their minds or something."

Fiona chuckled. "That sounds like a dangerous power. But she seems very nice. She treats me very fairly. I'm happy to see you together. You two deserve each other."

Klaus was about to respond but Fiona interrupted him to point out that they had reached a metal door at the end of the path.

They looked carefully inside to see the man they had been looking for standing at a control console for a machine. Attached to the device was a planter in a glass case holding the toxic mushroom samples inside, several tubes were attached to the glass with strange markers at the end that looked like they might open but it was unclear where the tubes would open to. The room was lit with only a few table lamps and on said table was a commonplace book that the culprit would occasionally write into. Fiona also noted that there was a second planter in the room with more mushrooms inside, but it was only connected to the other planter via a joined sprinkler set up to water inside plants; perhaps it served as a backup.

"Can you see his face," Klaus asked quietly.

"No, look."

He did as told and saw that their culprit had a mask covering his face, likely to keep himself safe from the toxic materials he was working with. It wouldn't have mattered if they saw him or not though. They would never find out his real name even if it had been a name they knew in the first place. It didn't matter. He needed to be stopped.

Fiona gripped the vial in her pocket as they watched him work. "If I can pour the cure into those planters' sprinkler systems that will kill them off for good, but we need to get him out of there first."

Just then they heard something from above. It was faint but sounded like a microphone with someone talking into it. And with that came a very horrifying realization of what their enemy's plan was and where they were under the school.

"Klaus... what happens if you shout fire in a crowded movie theater?"

"People panic and you get thrown out..."

"What happens if you filter poison mushrooms through the ventilation system into a crowded auditorium?"

Klaus swallowed nervously, "People panic..."

"He's a lunatic... if he sets that thing off... he'll get away with everything. 200 panicking teenagers get poisoned at once, it'd be impossible to get a cure to all of them within an hour."

Fiona noticed Klaus' face turn pale. "My family is up there... _Isadora_ is up there..." He whispered, fearfully.

Fiona put a hand on his shoulder, "We won't give him the chance to hurt them. And they have wasabi, they're safe."

Klaus took a shaky breath and nodded to show he trusted her.

"Hey look; he's leaving."

Their enemy walked out of the room up a secret staircase, opened by a switch on the wall, likely to check on the assembly to ensure his plan was going smoothly. This gave them one chance. Using their combined strength, they pushed open the heavy door and hurried inside. Fiona immediately went over to the sprinkler system while Klaus took a look at the villain's commonplace book.

"The handwriting is from the science teacher, Mr. McCray, but it's obviously an alias since he's not a real teacher. None of us have him, but I'm told he doesn't particularly like children; hence why he's not a real teacher," Klaus said. "Do you know how to use the system?"

"Yes I just pour this into the water supply and turn on the sprinklers. It'll work from there."

Klaus was about to say something but a loud shattering of glass behind the two of them interrupted him. How they wished they hadn't taken a breath when that happened. They turned to see the backup planter had been smashed open with a sledge hammer by none other than the villain they were trying to stop.

His breathing mask protected him from the poison that was now working its way into the two young volunteers. He stared in silence at them for several moments before finally saying something; and it would be all he would say directly to them.

"I see the organization still isn't above forcing children into their agenda. If you're so eager to be volunteers then surely you can handle making a vastly frightening decision. Be quick though, you're being timed." He showed off a remote in his hand that they could easily connect was for turning on the vents connected to the intact planter.

He turned and went back up the secret stairs leaving them to their choice.

Klaus looked at Fiona fearfully as she clutched her vial in her hand. "What are our options?"

"1. Do nothing."

"Ok not doing that. Next?"

"2. Both of us take the cure for ourselves and let everyone die when he turns that machine on."

"Bad idea. Next?"

"3... I pour half the cure into the sprinklers and destroy the mushrooms and the rest is used here."

"Good plan, do that," Klaus said feeling the effects of the poison take hold.

Fiona did as she was told and quickly turned on the sprinklers, within moments the grey and black mushrooms in both planters shriveled before their eyes, their spores wouldn't hurt anyone again. Klaus couldn't help thinking it was a miracle.

"Ok now we cure ourselves," He said quickly.

Fiona gave him a sad smile, he could see her having trouble breathing too. He was about to ask her what made her look like that. But he got his answer before he could.

Without hesitating, Fiona put the small vial in his hand to show him that she wanted him to have it. There wasn't enough left for both of them.

**~End of Chapter**


	10. The End

**Begin!**

**~Klaus' POV**

"Take the damn cure, Klaus; I don't exactly have time to argue with you about this!"

"Do you want this to end up as a suicide mission?"

I can't take the cure from her... not after we finally worked it out, not after we agreed to start our friendship over. She's a precious person. The guilt would haunt me for the rest of my days. Quigley would kill me, or disown me as a brother-in-law; I don't know which would be worse. He needs a woman like Fiona in his life; he cares for her, to lose her so soon after finding her would destroy him.

"You have a family to get back to," Fiona reasoned.

"So do you!" I could feel the poison getting worse and I'm sure she could as well. "What about your stepfather?"

"He's survived losing people before."

"And Fernald?! I may not like the guy very much, but he's your brother and I can see clear as day that you're the most important person in the world to him," I said, "Would he survive if he knew he wasn't able to save you?"

She went silent and carefully considered her answer. I knew she was going to say no to my question it was obvious. _"Fernald would never let anything hurt me."_ Those were her exact words; they were words that had been thought about carefully. Words that had been a fact for her entire life, but this was an instance where she had to ensure her own safety. And arguing with her about it was not going to solve our problems. First, pull out your phone and text the others who the culprit is so they can catch him. The mushrooms were dead, his plan was foiled; all we needed to do was catch him. If anything else, that will put their minds at ease for now. I did exactly that and got a response from Isadora saying they would make sure of it. I ignored her when she asked if we were alright.

"So what do you propose we do about this situation then," Fiona asked; she intentionally avoided my question because she knew I was right.

I glanced at the vial in my hand. We only had one option; get her to a source of horseradish within the next 57 minutes or I'd lose my friend forever. I quickly asked Isadora through messages if everyone was still in the auditorium. She confirmed that they were. Good. I can't take her to the others; too many people around the poison would spread. Quigley would flip his shit. There has to be something else in that cafeteria that has horseradish in it.

"If we're both going to make it out of this, then one of us has to be healthy." I said before drinking the cure. Thankfully, the antidote to the mycelium is very fast acting.

Once I was able to breathe normally again, I took the enemy's commonplace book and stuffed it in my jacket as evidence. I grabbed Fiona's hand, "How fast can you run?"

"No better than anyone else," She replied.

"Well you're in luck; I've gotten to be pretty good at running."

She covered her mouth with part of her jacket and gripped my hand tightly as we ran up the secret staircase. It led out of a wall entrance into a hallway I recognized, it wasn't far from the cafeteria. Don't hesitate. Ignore her coughing. It's only going to get worse, so just don't think about it. You've been through this before Klaus, more than once at this point. Can't hesitate. Not even for a fraction of a second, every moment counts. I was practically screaming at myself internally as we ran through the halls to get where we needed to be. I care too much. I've lost too many good people in my life; Fiona is a good person I don't want to lose her too.

Once we reached the room I practically tore the kitchen apart looking for anything that had horseradish in it. Ignore the clock on the wall. It's only going to make things worse if you think about it. I could hear her coughing harder this time. It was an awful sound. The sound of someone feeling punished for sins they want to be forgiven for. I swear if Violet doesn't forgive Fiona... No don't think. Just concentrate on finding horseradish. Minute after painful minute of searching and I had found nothing. Do I worry the others by telling them what's happened? Would Violet even be willing to help? (Logically even if she didn't she'd be outvoted four to one... but my sister can't possibly be that cruel, I know her better than that.)

Eventually, I heard Fiona collapse on the floor from having so much trouble breathing at this point.

_"Think Klaus... there has to be something else... what was it!"_

I took another look around the room and realization struck me like lightning.

_"We should warn you, the apples taste like horseradish."_

Thank you Isadora! I quickly grabbed one of the apples from the fruit bowl and gave it to Fiona under the promise I would explain later. I could tell these apples were still the same as the ones from the island. Aside from having more normal fruit inside in the bowl, they hadn't changed this as much. Perhaps Judy didn't realize there was anything strange about the apples aside from their taste. I watched with a relieved smile as she started breathing normally again moments after taking a bite.

"How do you feel?"

"Tired... but I'll live," She replied.

I held out my hand to help her up. She wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, "Thank you..."

"You're welcome... It's what friends are for."

This was a moment in our friendship we would not take lightly. Today Fiona and I gained an undying respect for one another. She wanted to perform a selfless good deed by letting me have the cure, and asked nothing in return, not even for me to cure her too. She went along with my plan because I forced her to. She was fully prepared to die for her mission, something she unfortunately didn't seem to have a choice in as a volunteer. A volunteer's life is always at risk; that's why they have to choose to do the job. But that's why being a volunteer is a choice, there's always a way to back out. But even though she asked for nothing in return, I still would not let her die for this. That would make me just as bad Count Olaf... He once laughed at the idea of me never forgiving Fiona, he was wrong, I did.

She pulled away and proceeded to examine her glasses to make sure that her collapsing didn't damage them. As she did, I got a text from Isadora saying that the volunteers had caught our guy. I told her where we were in response.

"The others are on their way," I said.

"Your sister won't be happy to hear you were poisoned." Fiona said, adjusting her glasses.

"Something tells me she'll get over it."

Within minutes they found us and I was practically tackled with hugs from my family. Isadora and Violet fussed over me while I was just happy to see Quigley and Fiona embracing. Quigley is a softie at heart and he really cared about her.

"Judy said she called up Lemony to have him come make sure we're ok, since this is normally volunteer work," Duncan told us.

"Good, they'll want this for their records," I said pulling out the commonplace book I had picked up.

"Where are my associates," Fiona asked.

"Outside; stuffing the villain into their car so they can take him away, we should go meet up with them," Isadora replied.

The six of us went out the main doors of the school and found exactly as described the two volunteers standing by their car waiting; possibly to meet with Fiona for the mission. Fernald was with them too and he quickly embraced his sister as if she were the most precious thing on this earth. The volunteers didn't look familiar to us.

One was a man with red hair, which looked like it was previously gelled into a spike but was currently down, and had brown eyes. The other was a woman with attractive features, who had long ebony hair that was black as the night sky, green eyes and eyebrows that curved in strange question mark like shapes. Everything about her screamed she commanded authority and respect. She didn't look like someone to be trifled with. Definitely not someone I want to get on the bad side of…

Fiona approached the two and talked with them for a moment as we saw a taxi pull up with our guardians inside. Lemony and Moxie fussed over us like concerned parents. They had even brought Sunny and Bea because they were worried about us. While this happened I told the others what we were doing in the cafeteria. As expected, Quigley flipped when he heard Fiona had been in danger. Isadora was happy that I was so quick to help. Duncan was just happy we were both ok. And Violet looked... thoughtful. I saw her glance at Fiona while she was conversing with the volunteers and her brother. I heard Moxie make some praising comments to Duncan for his observational skills on the case.

Within a few moments, something else happened. The female volunteer approached our group. And her gaze was fixated on one specific person.

"Lemony Snicket," She said, getting his attention. Her tone was indecipherable.

Lemony locked eyes with the woman. "Ellington Feint."

His tone was also indecipherable. But everything about the way they looked at each other said that their history was very complicated. All the rest of us could do was watch this conversation happen.

"Long time no see," Ellington said. She turned her gaze to Moxie. "Hello, Moxie. Is it still Mallahan or did you finally shackle a ball and chain on this one?"

Moxie laughed lightly, "It's both actually, Ellington. It's quite tiresome to make new business cards."

Ellington smirked. "Very true."

"I see you've joined up with the organization after all," Lemony said.

"Oh yes, Kit convinced me when she broke us out. Nice girl. I was sad to hear of her recent passing. But we'll get this degenerate out of here and the school will be safe once more. After that, we'll get back to Stain'd By The Sea." She then asked me for the commonplace I had picked up and I handed it to her as evidence.

She was about to turn and walk away but stopped and added. "Oh, and for someone married to a journalist, Mr. Snicket, you're very out of the know." She moved her left hand out from behind her back and showed off a gold wedding band on her ring finger. "It's Ellington Haines now."

At this point the man who we guessed was her husband came over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Kellar!" Moxie shouted flinging her arms around him in a friendly hug.

"Nice to see you too, Mox," Kellar replied.

"I didn't recognize you with your hair down! You married her of all people?"

Kellar smiled. "She's not so bad once you get to know her."

With that, he and his wife started to walk back to their car together, but Lemony had something else to say.

"Ellington, did you ever forgive me?"

Ellington looked back at him with a stone faced expression and answered his question with one damning word.

"No."

Kellar and Ellington said goodbye to Fiona and Fernald and proceeded to drive away in their car, taking our mystery villain to his meet his fate.

Lemony sighed and muttered softly, "Worth asking at least..."

"Can't expect a miracle, honey," Moxie said, "I'm surprised she didn't punch you honestly."

**~Fiona's POV**

I watched my associates leave with our enemy in custody. I couldn't wait to write to Cleo to tell her the good news. I called Judy to tell her that the students who were taken in by V.F.D. would be returned soon and that the mission was a success. Once finished, Fernald and I started talking about where we would go from here. Technically speaking, we were supposed to go back to our stepfather... but... I glanced at Quigley as he sat with his family. I then felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Isadora smiling at me.

She wrapped her arms around me and whispered, "Klaus told me what you did... thank you for bringing him back to me."

I returned her hug. "You're welcome."

She pulled away and gave me a knowing look. "You know, Quigley wants you to stick around..."

"Oh really?"

I saw Fernald glare at that comment. He got over it enough to let me start dating; he can get over it more.

"Think we can convince stepfather to let me stay," I asked.

Fernald gave me a look before saying yes. Isadora then grabbed my arm and pulled me over to her family. She brought Violet over to me.

"Violet, you have something you need to say to Fiona." Isadora said sternly.

"Isadora, it's fine she doesn't have to-"

"I'm sorry," Violet said interrupting me. Her tone was genuine and serious. "I was scared and paranoid and I treated you like shit, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything... I was wrong to do that, I should have been rational but I wasn't, and I am sorry. If you're going to stay then I want us to try starting over too..."

"I'm sorry for ever giving you a reason to say any of those things." I replied before the two of us hugged as well.

"Thank you for saving my brother," She whispered.

I was given a gentle bite on the hand from Sunny as a simple way of saying she forgave me too. I was introduced to Kit's daughter Beatrice who the Baudelaires had been tasked with raising. Quigley made an amusing comment that Bea needed another aunt. (Something that didn't go over my head...)

Once Lemony and Moxie took Sunny and Bea back to their house for the night, I did some persuading to get my stick in the mud brother to let me stay in my friends' dorm for the night. We spent the night feeling accomplished and proud of our work. We had saved the entire school and nobody would even know about it except for a few select people. I didn't come here to make peace with the Baudelaires but it ended up happening anyway. Part of me assumed they wouldn't want to so the intent never crossed my mind. Duncan and Isadora were always kind to me. Violet was truly sorry for doubting me and we made up. Klaus and I had what we privately called "mutual respect." To everyone else, it was like we were best friends.

But the best part is that I got to stay with Quigley. He's not the brightest guy around, but he makes me happy. He makes me feel loved and appreciated. We stayed together and had blessing from everyone to do so. And years later, he would ask me to marry him. I became Bea's other adoptive-step-aunt alongside Isadora. (Violet was her adoptive mother and Duncan's future marriage to her made him her adoptive-stepfather.) But even before that future came around I was accepted by them, and it felt wonderful.

_I love my family._

**~The End!**

**Yay for one final book! I'm sorry it's not terribly long but I had a simple idea and wanted to write it no matter how long it took. No epilogue with this one either. I hope you liked it!**


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